Language and Sexism

Recently in my Spanish class we were given a new list of vocabulary words to learn. On this list was the word mujeriego, which translates to womanizer. Now usually with Spanish nouns and adjectives there’s a masculine version (with an “o” at the end) and a feminine version (with an “a” at the end), however there was no feminine version on the list.

A friend of mine raised his hand and asked, “What’s the girl version of mujeriego?”

My teacher pondered for a while before shrugging her shoulders and saying, “I don’t think there is one… The only one I can think of is a word that I really shouldn’t say in class.”

Puta – Prostitute or slut.

Maybe there is a female version of the word that I’m just not aware of. Anyone know of one?

Just something to think about.

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§ 2 Responses to Language and Sexism

I have noticed things like this in my spanish class as well. For instance the word for bellhop (ya kno the person who carries bags into and out of a hotel) is botones. There is no female version, and when someone asked my spanish teacher this, she seemed to have no idea that a woman could be a bellhop at all. This is just a small thing, and I personally do not have aspirations of being a bellhop, but some spanish speaking woman might.